Steering-wheel



H. w. BUND Y. STEERING WHEEL. APPLICATION FILED JAN-2, i920:

useful Improvements in Steering-Wheels,

FFICE.

"z w. Bunny, or nn'raor'r, mrcnrerm.

STEERING-WHEEL.

Specification of Letter s Patent.

Application filed J'anuary'Z, 1920. Serial in 348,962.

To all whom it may concern:

I Be it known that I, HARRY W. .BUNDY, a citizen ofthe United States, residin at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and tate of Michigan, have invented certain new and which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to' steer ng wheels and es ecially steerin wheels for automobiles. t has for its 0 ject a steeringwheel that can be made up of tubing and provided with a stamped spider in which the hub 18 secured to the spider members a pressing operation; The ends of the spi er arms can be secured to the tubing formin therim by notching the under side of t e tubing and welding the. arms thereto. These features will better appear when a detailed de-' scription has been glven.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a cross section of the steering wheel.

Fig. 2 is a top plan vlew. Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross section through the hub after the inner hub member has been bored and slotted. Fig. 4 is a detail of the under side of the rim after. it has been notched to receive the spider arm end.

a designates the tubing forming the rim.

1 This may be seamless tubing, or So far as ,the purpose of this invention is concerned, may be tubing formed in numerous ways,

such as lock-seam, welded, brazed or other tubing formed into circular cross section.

.The'ends of the tubing'are welded together at b to formthe rim. On the under side of the tubing notches c are cut to receive the ends of the spider arms d. These spider arms d are in the form of pairs of stamped metal strips which are ribbed longitudinallyl for the main portion of their length wi ribs 6 but which at their ends are. flattened to form the end portions f. At their centers the spider armsare punched and stamped to form the bosses g and h on the upper and lower pairs of spider arms respectively. The flattened center portions surrounding the bosses lie in overlapped relation as at c.

The hub is formed of a piece of cylindrical stock 9' which can be formed by a screw machine. This is provided with aknurl that is shown at k in Fig. 1. o The upper and form the hub can be grooved with annular lower portions of the piece of stock that is to grooves Z. This can all be done on a screw machine. J

The piece of stock can be placed in the center bosses of the spider arms which are slightly larger than the iece of stock to enable them to readily fi t in place. The bosses may then-be clamped tightly upon the stock by a suitable press operation which .serves to punch the bossed'stock into the annulargroove l and also causes the bossed stock to bite into the knurled portion of the p1ece of stock that is to form the hub. The interengagement of the stock of. the bosses and the hub stock serves to lock the spider arms to,the hub stock so that they cannot "slip longitudinally thereof, while the interengagement of the bosses with the knurled portions of the hub stock serves to lock the spider arms'from turning on the hub stock.

vIt will readily be understood that the upper pair of spider arms having been locked in this way to the upper portion of the hub and the lower pa r of spider arms having been locked to the lower portion of the hub no further locking arrangement between t ese two pairs ofspider arms is required and it will not be necessary to? rivet them together,

to braze them or weld them.

After the piece of hub stock has been locked into the spider arms in this way the ends of the s ider arms may be inserted in the slots o o the under side of the rim and welded thereto. 1

After the spider arms have been assembled upon the rim the hub ma be bored and slotted with a key slot, this being efiected after the assembly which insures it being correctly centered with respect tothe rim.

What I claim is: I

1. A steering wheel spider, comprising a plurality of spider arms, a hub made up of a. cylindrical member having a' depressionthe boss into the groove of the hub.

3. A steering wheel s 'ider, having a plurality of spider arms w ich form a boss at ing locked together by pressing the stoc of the center, and a hub provided with a groove. and a roughened outer surface, said boss being pressedupon the roughened surface of the hub and into the groove to lock the hub in place.

4. A steering wheel spider, comprising a plurality of spider arms having at their center a boss, and a hub locked therein by having a roughened outer surface into which the stock of the boss is pressed.

annular groove formed therein, the said stock of the boss pressed into said annular groove to lock the hub into the steering arms. a

7. A steering wheel spider made up of a pair of steering arms formed at their centers with hub openings and bosses and overlapped, and a hub locked thereinto by pressing the bosses into the substance of the hub. 8. A steering wheel spider made up of spider arm pairspunched and bossed at their centers and overlapped, and a. hub having an outer surface onto which the stock of the two bosses are adapted to be pressed to lock the hub therein and lock the two pairsof arms together.

9. A steering wheel spider, comprising two pairs of steering arms punched and bosse a hub having at each end a groove, the substance of the two bosses being adapted to be pressed into the two grooves to lock the hub into the arms and the two pairs of arms together. l

10. A steering wheel spider made up of two pairs of arms punched and bossed at their centers and overlapped, and a hub having an annular {groove cut in eachend and the substance 0 the two bosses pressed in the two annular ends to lock the hub in place and the two pairs of spider arms toat their centers and gggadapmnm nd emme 12. The method of constructing steering wheelspiders, comprising the stamping of the spider arms in pairs with center bosses, the roughening of the exterior of..the hub,

v the insertion of the hub in the perforate central bosses, and the pressing of the bosses upon the hub to lock the hub to the spider arms and the s ider arms together.

13. The met 10d of constructing steering wheel spiders, comprising the stamping of the spider arms in pairs with central perforated bosses, the knurling of the hub and inserting it in the bosses, and the pressing of the bosses upon the knurled hub to lock the hub into the spider arms and the spider arm pairs together.

14. The method of constructing steering wheel spiders, consisting of stamping the spider arms with centralperforated bosses, the roughening of the exterior of the hub and inserting it in the overlap d central bosses of the spider arms, and t e pressing of the stock of the bosses upon the roughened portion of the hub to loekthe hub to the arms and the arms to one another.

15. The method of constructing steering wheel spiders, comprising the stamping of the spider arms with perforate. central bosses, the grooving of the hub and inserting the same in the overlapped perforated central:

bosses of thespider arms, and the pressing of the bosses into the groovesof the hub to into the spider arms and the spider arms to ether.

16. The method of constructing steering wheel spiders, comprising the stamping of the spider rms with rforated central bosses, the roughening o the grooving and the exterior of the hub and inserting it in the overlapped central erforated bosses of the spider arms, and t e ressing of the stock of the bosses into t e grooves and roughened exterior of the hub to lock the hub to the arms andv the arms together.

In testimony whereof I afiixmy signature.

HARRY W. BUNDY. 

